Operation Opal Part 2

The answer is always the
same "Yes, but should I pack my bazooka?" I guess you could say
its code for "I'm all right, stop worrying." Ri-Sol Ju is being
tried as a war criminal along with some of the officers who made
my life a living hell at Camp Fourteen, plus some other high
ranking North Korean officials who are being charged with 20,500
each counts of murder, theft, accessory to murder and other fun
things. They will probably be executed. Personally, I hope it's
by firing squad. Hans moved to Germany and is madly in love with
a nice German girl he met on his first day there. She finally
agreed to marry him after Hans's many pleas. The wedding is in
about four months and I couldn't be happier for them. Kim-Jong
Un's body is in storage at the FBI forensics lab in Washington
D.C. The Army put it there after someone tried to steal it from
the Army base it was being kept at. Why anyone would want his
dead body is beyond my level of comprehension, but at least it's
locked away somewhere. Amy pointed out that it's poetic justice
that his body is being locked up in a U.S. government lab when he
lived his whole life hating the U.S. government. I'm just glad
he's dead. As for the nation he once ruled, North Korea is now in
control of his nephew, Kim Han-Sol. Kim Han-Sol's father was once
was going to inherit North Korea but fell out of favor after a
failed attempt to leave the country. He's no older than I am, but
stepped up to rebuild North Korea anyways. He has always been a
supporter of Korean reunification and under his guidance that may
finally happen. It wasn't until after I gave birth to the baby,
now named Isabelle, that I heard from him. The day after I got
home from the hospital that I received a phone call from Han-Sol,
saying he wanted to see Isabelle, Opal, Amy, and me whenever we
were available. I told him to get on a plane whenever he could
because my schedule was less insane than his. To my surprise, he
came over three days later for a two-week visit. I guess he
really wanted to see his little cousins. As he walked in the
door, Opal ran up to him, gave him a big hug and said,

"I've heard all about you.
You're my Uncle's kid."

He smiled and patted her
on the head. Bending over to look her in the eyes he said,

"I heard you have a cat.
Can you go get him?"

Opal ran off to the other
room to get the cat she had insisted on keeping after she found
him in the front yard. He was a large brown tabby named Diadem.
Opal picked the name out herself. In the meantime, Han-Sol sat
down on the couch with Amy on one side and me on the other
side.

"I don't know where to
start." I sighed.

"Well, how did you find
Opal?" Han-Sol replied.

"I used the immigration
records your uncle had in his office. I'm sorry about killing him
by the way." Han-Sol let out a slight laugh

"You did what you had to
do. Besides, I hardly knew the guy since I never met him. It's
fine. I'm just sorry that anyone had die to reunify Korea." I
breathed a sigh of relief. He forgave me after all.

"Tell me about
Isabella."

I spent the next ten
minuets telling him all about Isabella from the time I knew I was
pregnant to the day she born. I told him about how she was
conceived, leaving out certain details of course, but I also told
him how happy I was that I had her and how blessed I felt to have
her as my own. Amy told Han-Sol about Opal and since she knew the
most about her I figured that the story of finding Opal was not
mine to tell. Han-Sol listened intently and was finally able to
hold his newborn cousin for the first time. Opal talked his ear
off, but I don't think it bothered him at all. They played with
Diadem until he got bored and left the two of them. He helped
with Isabella and Opal so much that Amy remarked that he would be
a great father when he had kids of his own. He smiled and told
her that his future wife will be a very happy woman since he'll
help out so much. After his time was up he left to go back to
North Korea to work out the details with the South Korea's
president Park Geun-hye and help restore the war and hunger
stricken north. He promised to return as soon as he could and
told us that he'd be happy to have Opal and Isabella visit Korea,
once it was fixed and "ready for us" as he said. Opal was very
sad that her new favorite person was leaving but understood that
he had to leave.

We spent the next year living in
Florida and listening to news about the so-called "Korean
Nuremburg Trials." My prediction about the North Korean officials
was right by the way. All were executed by firing squad except
for one that committed suicide in his cell. Ri-Sol Ju was able to
escape the squad when the judge asked her how she would like to
die and she chose to die through lethal injection, avoiding going
in front of a squad of American soldiers. Han-Sol called about a
week after that asking us if we wanted to come to Korea for the
ribbon cutting ceremony to erase the border and officially
reunify the two halves of Korea to make it whole again. I told
that of course we would come and I promptly packed everyone up,
got on a plane and arrived in Seoul hours later. Han-Sol was so
happy to see us that I could swear he was crying. Opal and the
now 13-month-old Isabella were happy to visit Korea and see
Han-Sol, the cousin that sends them presents in the mail from
time to time. We spent the night in Seoul and drove up to the
border the next morning to complete the reunification ceremony.
Right before the show Han-Sol came into the room where Amy and I
were sitting with the kids and asked us to accompany him to the
stage where the ceremony would be taking place. We agreed to do
so and minuets later we were walking onto the stage where this
historic event was taking place while a loud announcer told the
audience to "Please welcome the man behind this event, Kim
Han-Sol!" The audience mostly consisted of citizens who were here
to witness what is a lifelong dream to many of them; some of
their relatives were on the other side of a fence that had
divided Korea for decades. They got up on their feet to welcome
him as soon as they saw him; more people than just Opal,
Isabelle, Amy, and myself love Han-Sol. He got up onto the podium
and thanked the audience profusely, then went on to begin his
speech.

"Today we have come here
to celebrate something that I never thought was possible in my
lifetime. We come here today to erase something that has long
been a scar on the face of Korea: the Demilitarized Zone. This
scar is also known as the 38th parallel or the border.
As many of you know, this border was placed here many years ago
to keep the North and South away from each other. Tensions built
up over many years of separation and spilled over into war on
April 17, 2014. The war raged on over the next three and a half
years, bringing death and destruction along with it. The fighting
finally ended on October 14, 2017, when a brave American soldier
who happens to be on stage with me assassinated Kim-Jong Un.
Please step forward Sierra Shapratski."

I did as I was told. I
stepped toward the deathly quiet audience and faced the sea of
Koreans who were all here to see the border erased and instead
got to see me. To my surprise, they all cheered and screamed love
and praise at me as soon as I was separate from the pack of
people on stage. They were clearly happy to see the person who
helped end the long and brutal war between the two Koreas. I had
to pinch the skin of my palm to keep myself from crying on stage.
Han-Sol continued when the crowd died down

"This brave young women is
responsible for the peace and prosperity that will reign over a
reunified Korea in the years to come. She lived in the captivity
of Kim-Jong Un's home for six months until she was able to
complete her mission and end his life on that fateful day of
October 14, 2017. It has been about 18 months since that fateful
day and I am sorry that she had to take someone else's life to
save Korea but happy that she did so to save our country from
further separation. Thank you Sierra, Korea will forever be
indebted to you for your services." I stared at him in shock; I
never thought that what I did was so important. He continued
on,

"Now what all of you have
waiting for. It is with great pleasure that I cut this ribbon and
finalize the reunification of Korea." Han-Sol picked up a pair of
scissors and as he cut the ribbon I looked up at the sky, a clear
sky with fluffy white clouds scattered among the endless sea of
blue. It was a beautiful day in early May with the wind teasing
my hair and the sun warming the backs of my hands as they sat in
my lap. It was at this moment that I was finally able to answer
the question that Kim-Jong Un asked me so long ago. I am Sierra
Shapratski, a loving mother, brave soldier, and a loyal friend to
this thing called freedom. So let that liberty bell ring in joy
for the Koreans who now can find their long lost relatives. Let
it ring in memorial for those who died in my arms on the
battlefield, we will never forget you. Let it ring for those who
worked tirelessly to bring this dream of reunification into a
reality. But most importantly, let it ring in a new era of peace
and prosperity for all people on Earth.